Blue Moon
by RandyPandy
Summary: X ends up somewhere that he most definitely was not expecting, but questions he's had for quite some time are finally answered. -post-RM?-
1. Distortion

This plot bunny would just not leave me! Hence, the results. Saying anything about it would spoil it massively.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rockman and do not make any money off of this.

* * *

_"I can't... stay in this world... much longer... Zero..."_

A figure in blue robes blinked as he suddenly found himself lying down on a metal floor in the midst of a blue room. A very familiar-looking room.

"Where have I seen this place before?" Cyber-Elf X murmured to himself, standing up. Mentally scanning the place (ah, the joys of being digital!) he realized, with a shock, that this was the site where Eurasia had crashed many years ago. "Am I not supposed to be in Cyberspace? What am I doing here?!"

Before the Cyber-Elf could ponder anymore, he heard a familiar-sounding scream. Curious, he floated through the area, noting the battle that had taken place. That wasn't what caught his attention, however, and if he had been human, X was sure he would have had a heart attack. For there, half-dead on the ground, was Zero, with a battered but still functional X standing over him.

"Zero! No! Don't die!" the other X screamed, clinging to Zero. "Do you hear me? Zeroo! Zeroo!"

The Cyber-Elf had gone numb. He had known that time was no factor in Cyberspace, and that if distorted enough, it was possible to go through time... but it wasn't as if his trip through time had been exactly planned, had it? But now he knew why this place looked familiar. He had come here with Zero after Eurasia had crashed in order to battle Sigma.

And, he realized with a sickening jolt as he made sure to stay out of sight, he knew what was going to happen next. And he was quite sure that he wasn't allowed to stop it.

"...Dro... Drop dead...!"

To this day, X was sure that the voice that had come from Sigma's mouth had NOT been Sigma's, and he had his suspicions as to whose voice it had been. Anyways, X squeezed his eyes shut and placed his hands over his ears as he heard the laser fire and his younger self scream. Watching oneself and one's best friend get destroyed wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. He opened one eye just in time to see Zero fire his Buster at Sigma, destroying him.

Stepping a little closer, but still making sure to remain out of sight, he listened to Zero's "last" words. "Your... optimism led... to your own... demise... You... should... li... li... live..."

Zero's eyes shut, and X knew that he was dead, but not permanently. He also knew that someone would be coming to save his younger self right about now. Though it had been about 200 years since he had gone through this, give or take a few years, the Cyber-Elf was actually curious as to who had saved the two of them, and why they had seen fit to take Zero away from him and make him think he was dead. That was probably the only reason he had stuck around and hadn't tried to return to his own era's Cyberspace.

But no one came.

He blinked confusedly, recalling his own memories of what had happened. Sometime around now, he had given himself up for lost when he had heard a voice tell him to relax. The voice had sounded very familiar to him, but X's vision had been failing and all he could see in front of him was a bluish-white light in the shape of a person. He then didn't remember anything that happened afterwards until he had suddenly found himself leaning against a wall right outside Hunter HQ.

Initially, he had thought that the AI of Dr. Light in the capsules had saved him, but then he remembered that A) Dr. Light needed the capsules to be present, and B) though he wasn't sure whether he could trust his failing audio sensors, the voice hadn't sounded like Dr. Light at all. In fact, the voice had sounded more like...

X nearly choked as he finally realized that truth. He now knew exactly who had saved him.

Leaving his hiding place, he flew towards his younger self and remained suspended in the air above him.

"I'm going... to die..." the younger X murmured to himself, eyes still closed.

"...Not yet..." the Cyber-Elf said to him softly. "Actually, I want you rest and relax for now... Hold on, X..." He continued, stumbling a bit as he said his own name to another, "...Just for a few more moments..."

* * *

Two hours later, X groaned, too tired to hover as he landed on a broken pillar. Who knew that repairing Repliroids was so exhausting, even while doing it in Cyberspace? He'd have to make sure that the next Nurse Elves he met got some extra E-Crystals...

Looking over at the younger X, the Cyber-Elf shivered. As he had been repairing himself, he had noticed that the laser that had pierced right through the middle of his chest, missing his energy generator, which had a similar function to and was located in the same place as the human heart, by a mere centimeter. "That was fortunate. If that attack had gone one more centimeter to the left..."

Turning his eyes to Zero, he stood up -- and buckled. "Oh... I forgot..." he said, standing weakly. "I spent most of my energy already..." He hadn't fully recovered from the amount of time he had spent wandering the real world back in his era, and he had used up what little he had recovered.

X frowned, smoothing his robes out of habit. He needed to get Zero's body out of there, but he no longer had the energy to remain in a corporeal form (which probably also explained his sudden craving for E-Crystals).

Then his eyes landed on his younger self.

Could he possibly do it? Mother Elf and the Baby Elves were able to control Repliroids bodies to a certain degree. Perhaps if he made sure that his younger self remained unconscious, could he possess his own body, find a source of energy for his Cyber-Elf form, and take Zero elsewhere to be repaired?

Well, he didn't really know what else to do. And he was fairly certain that no matter what he did, the time stream wouldn't allow him to mess it up. Deactivating his hologram so that he looked like nothing but a ball of blue light with rainbow strands, he floated over to his younger self, studying him carefully.

"Well... here goes nothing."

The sensation of passing into his own body was so surreal that X was unable to describe it. One second, he was outside his body, trying to enter. The next second, he was suddenly inside a room.

Great. Now where was he?

"Eh?!" A voice squeaked behind him. Turning around, his eyes rested on the people standing before him, which all but told him exactly where he was.

Before him were what appeared to be a group of X-lookalikes, but all dressed up in his different armors. Four of the lookalikes, one of whom was dressed identical to the Cyber-Elf, and three more who were in the Falcon, Gaea, and Ultimate Armors, were unconscious. A very battered-looking X in the Force Armor was sitting next to them, while two Xs in the Max and the Gold Armors tended to them. The final two Xs, one in the Light Armor and one in the Giga Armor, were standing guard.

The one in the Light Armor blinked and looked back from the unconscious X to the Cyber-Elf. "Dad...?" he asked, confused. "You're giving off the same readings as Dad..."

"But Light, Father's right here," said the one in the Giga Armor. He pointed his Buster at Cyber-Elf X.

X stared at them and mentally gasped. _How could I have forgotten about them? _ He raised his hands up in the air. "I mean no harm," he said to them. "I am X, yes, but I am not the X you know."

"Then who are you?" another voice rang out. The two in the Max and Gold Armors stepped up, forming their Busters, and the one in the Force Armor, who had been the one that had spoken, struggled to his feet.

"Force," X said kindly, gazing at the weakened Armor program. "You may want to sit back down. You're too damaged to do anything..."

"...How do you know my name?" Force asked, confused.

"Let me explain. I am X from the future," the Cyber-Elf finally said.

The four Armors stared at each other, at present-day X, and at Cyber-Elf X. Finally, the one in the Max Armor stepped forward. "I don't suppose you know who we are?" he asked cautiously, one hand on the hilt of a Z-Saber on his back as he gestured to himself and the two in the Giga and Gold Armors.

Nodding, X said, "You three are Max, Giga, and Gold."

Placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully, Giga stepped forward, casting a gaze on the unconscious figures behind them. Pointing to the Ultimate Armor, he gave a small smirk. "That's the Ultimate Armor. What's his real name, and why?"

X smiled as well. "I named him Nova, after the Nova Strike, because I believed if he kept the name Ultimate, it would give him a large ego -- or at least, a larger ego than he already has."

Giga's eyes widened. "You really are Father!"

"But if you're from the future, why are you here?"

Deciding that it was safe to step closer, X walked over to his Armor programs. "I am doing something that I am supposed to do." He looked down at his duplicate. "My younger self was badly damaged during Sigma's attack, knocking him unconscious and nearly killing him."

"So that's why he appeared here," Gold said thoughtfully. "And why he and the Armors were hurt so badly. Force was attacked during the statue incident, but he's had time to recover, so he's okay, but Falcon, Gaea, and Nova are hurt pretty bad. The four of us are okay because we were in the background."

"How did you get in here?" Max asked.

X shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't have much time to talk," he told them. "I promise I'll explain everything, but for the moment, I need to borrow the body."

"Why?" Light asked.

"To save Zero," X said urgently. "I managed to save myself here, but Zero's still hurt pretty badly."

"But why do you need present-day Dad's body?" Light asked again. "Can't you just do it yourself?"

X twitched slightly. "I... don't exactly have a body anymore," he said. At their surprised expressions, he added, "I am like you all now. It's a long story, but I promise I will explain it later. Will you let me take control?"

The conscious Armor programs looked at each other and shrugged. Giga stepped forward. "Alright," he said. "We'll let you take over for now."

"Thank you," a relieved X said. He knelt next to his duplicate. "I'm going to have to put my past self to sleep for a bit," he said to the Armors. "It would be awkward explaining who I am to him. After all, I was not aware of my future self's existence in this era."

They nodded. X muttered something, before his hand and then the unconscious X glowed a bit. "He won't wake up now. Don't worry, I will take it off of him before I leave the body."

The conscious Armor programs each picked up one of the four unconscious figures, and Max threw Force's arm over his shoulder. "Good luck, Dad," Light said as he tried not to drop Nova.

X watched the Armor programs walk off to another room. "Think Dad'll get mad if I 'accidentally' drop Nova...?" Light muttered to Giga, who frowned reproachfully at him. Chuckling a bit as he remembered how annoying and egotistical the other Armors had found Nova, the Cyber-Elf closed his eyes and concentrated. A strange sensation passed through him. He opened his eyes again and found himself staring across the room where he and Zero had fought Sigma. Lifting his hands, he examined the blue armor that he was wearing.

"I'd almost forgotten what it was like to not be wearing robes," he said thoughtfully. He stood up and experimentally moved his limbs around, adjusting to the feel of being physical again, before turning to Zero, wincing at the damage he saw. All that remained of Zero were his head and chest. "Well, old friend... time to save your life. Again."

* * *

There're a total of three parts, and Parts 2 and 3 will come later.


	2. Explanations

I was expecting that reception to this story. 0.o Thanks everyone that reviewed and favorited! In this chapter, Cyber-Elf X explains what happened in his time to the Armors. The real fun stuff occurs in the last part, which I need to edit before putting up.

* * *

X carried Zero to the one place that he knew nobody, not the Irregulars, not the Hunters, would search: the ruins of Dr. Light's laboratory. The place would have the supplies and parts he needed, his own schematics (which would be very useful in repairing Zero, since the red Repliroid had been very heavily based off of his own plans, much more than the normal Repliroid), and it even had its own Cyberspace, since Dr. Light had been very fond of the Internet and virtual programs (the Armors' existence was proof enough of that).

Zero would take a bit of time to repair; it would take about three weeks, if he remembered correctly. The Cyber-Elf's first task was to find a source of energy for himself. E-Crystals didn't exactly exist in this time period, after all, and he couldn't keep his past self's body here for three weeks. X had returned to the Hunters less than two days after Zero had vanished during the Eurasia incident.

Leaving Zero lying on the lab table with the schematics spread out, X went and wandered around the house. "Who knows," he said to himself. "Dr. Light might have left something useful -- are those E-Tanks?!" Unable to help himself, X ran to where a pile of blue cans with a large black "E" painted where haphazardly tossed. Popping open the lid of one of the E-Tanks, he analyzed its chemical composition.

"Yes! They are E-Tanks!" He couldn't help but smile victoriously. E-Tanks were basically liquid versions of E-Crystals, and much healthier (in other words, already in a usable form) than the solid form. However, the technology to make E-Tanks had been lost sometime after the era of his older brother Rockman, and even their inferior form, E-Crystals, had only been developed late in the 23rd century, when Cyber-Elves had been first created.

Humming a small tune he had picked up from Ciel, X began to pick up the E-Tanks, making sure that each had liquid in them. Despite being in his past self's body, X's cravings for E-Crystals had not dimmed in the least. And E-Tanks made a very, very fine substitute.

As X placed the E-Tanks on the ground near the lab table, a light shone through the window. Blinking, X looked out the window to see a full moon shining. It looked quite majestic, and unobstructed -- it had been many years since he had been able to see such an unobstructed view of the moon. The destruction caused by the Elf Wars had caused much pollution on the planet, and the moon could only be seen through the dust and sand left behind, which obscured it.

_My younger self doesn't have to go back until tomorrow, anyways..._ thought X. He climbed out the window and onto the roof, taking care to not sit on any weakened parts of the building, letting his legs dangle down the side as he gazed at the moon. _It's been so long since I've seen the moon... Father, who knew that our home had such an amazing view? The moon looks almost blue from this angle... interesting, since the local news said it would be a blue moon tonight..._

X leaned back, lying down on the roof with his head resting on his arms as he stared up at the moon. The fatigue of both spending much of his energy as a Cyber-Elf and being in a recently repaired body caught up with him, and he found himself drifting off.

* * *

"Hey, Dad!" Light called, waving as X suddenly found himself back inside the Cyberspace of his mind.

_I'm going to have to get used to that again..._ He smiled back at Light and the other Armors. Force was now completely repaired, and Falcon and Gaea were now conscious. Nova was still out, and Gold was working on him. The present-day X was being watched over by Max.

"I fell asleep on the roof," X said in explanation. "I was enjoying seeing the moon and being in a body after so long."

"About that, Father..." Giga asked. "Can you explain why you are here?"

"I will do my best, but to be honest, Giga, I am not too sure how I arrived here myself," X said. He took a deep breath, and, looking over the expectant Armors that were now sitting cross-legged on the ground. X rubbed the back of his helmet in amusement. Despite being weapons of mass destruction, his Armors were like children.

X sat down on a block of data. "Well, as you all know, I am from the future. I never mentioned how much, but if I remember correctly, I am from about 200 years in the future. The era I came from is very different from how it is now. Coexisting with humans and Repliroids is a third species, which are called Cyber-Elves."

"What are Cyber-Elves?" asked Light.

"All of you would be classified as Cyber-Elves," X nodded to the Armors. "Unfortunately, aside from you all and very few other Cyber-Elves, most Elves perish after one use. That changed as the years went by, but by my standards, it was still rather recent technology. People ignored the fact that the Elves died after one use, and many Cyber-Elf lives were lost in the Wars that followed. When the war was over..." X shuddered slightly. "95% of Cyber-Elves, 90% of Repliroids, and 60% of humans were wiped out."

The Armors made various cries of alarm, staring at X in shock. "Wh... what about us?" Force asked quietly.

X said nothing, a sad look in his eyes. "I... all of you..." He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Strange how one can cry in the Cyberworld. "All of you fused with each other in order to form the Seraph Armor, possibly the strongest Armor I had ever seen, but... it cost you all your lives."

Suddenly, he stood up, grabbed Light, who was closest Armor to him, and hugged him tightly. "I missed you all," he said in a shaky voice. "I really missed you all... I was all alone. All of you, the Hunters, and even Zero and Axl... All of you were gone."

"Axl?" Falcon asked, blinking. "Who's Axl?"

"Axl is... Never mind, you all haven't met him yet. You will eventually a couple of years from now, if I remember correctly..."

Light remained where he was, allowing the Cyber-Elf to hug him, and moved his head a little so that he could ask X a question. "What happened after the war?"

"I was given leadership over a country named Neo Arcadia. I did my best to ensure that everybody was happy, but the pain of the loss never left me. But many years later, the instigator of the Elf Wars, a man named Dr. Weil, came back. He stole a very powerful Cyber-Elf, known as the Mother Elf, and transformed her into the Dark Elf. I was able to stop him by sending him to space, and the Dark Elf by sealing her in my body, but that forced me into the form you see me today. Returning to my body would have released the Dark Elf, so I stayed in Cyberspace for much of my time. A scientist with pure intentions created a clone of me to rule Neo Arcadia so that the people wouldn't realize I was gone. But..."

"Something went wrong," Gaea concluded.

"Exactly. The clone went bad. He started persecuting the Repliroids and killing them, accusing them of being Irregulars even when they weren't. The scientist that built my clone helped many of the accused Repliroids escape and they formed an underground Resistance. I began to help them anonymously at times. Finally, when I saw they needed help, I let slip where they could find Zero."

"But I thought you said Zero died?" Falcon asked.

"Yes and no," X said. "Zero sealed himself away to destroy the Irregular Virus inside him. I was sure he was clean, so I gave the Resistance the information as to where he was sleeping. Zero joined them, and what followed was a series of battles against him and Neo Arcadia. I won't go into too much detail... but he managed to destroy my clone. However, one of the Resistance leaders went Irregular, released the Dark Elf, and destroyed my body before Zero could stop him. I'll never forget the look on Zero's face..."

The cries from the Armors nearly deafened X, who winced. Light pulled away from X and stared at him in horror. "When you said you're like us now..." the first of X's Armors said in a small voice. "You really were telling the truth. You're trapped in this form, and that was why you enjoyed the time you were able to use present-Dad's body."

X nodded. "Then Dr. Weil, came back from space, along with Zero's original body, which Zero had transported his mind away from. Zero's body now contained a being named Omega. The battles that followed were quite... long, and I had to intervene several times so that they would survive, but that really drained my energy... I managed to stay in the real world long enough to see Zero destroy Omega and free the Mother Elf. I talked to Zero a bit, and then I must have fallen through a distortion in Cyberspace, because I suddenly found myself at the Eurasia crash site. And that brings us to our current situation."

He sighed, closing his eyes. "It's been about a day. I should return the present-day X to Hunter Headquarters."

"But don't you need a body?" Giga asked.

The Cyber-Elf shook his head. "I found E-Tanks in Father's laboratory. Cyber-Elves thrive off of E-Tanks and their solid form, E-Crystals. With them, I can produce a solid form."

"What about E-Pellets and E-Capsules? They're everywhere. Can't you use those?"

"E-Pellets and E-Capsules are too unstable for us, since they break down extremely quick if not for SubTanks," X explained. "You all don't need E-Tanks or E-Crystals because live inside me and therefore you feed off of my energy. But don't you all need to go into your sleep cycles? Falcon, Gaea, Nova, and Force were hurt, and Nova's still unconscious. The rest of you were helping them at the cost of your own energy."

The group of Armors looked sheepishly at each other. "Well... Perhaps?"

"Shoo!" X said, gently but firmly pushing them away. "You all need your rest! And... please do not tell the present-day X about our conversation? He does not exactly need to know the future. I most definitely didn't. And also, do not tell anyone else, either. That includes Nova and any of the newer Armors you will meet. The fewer that know, the better."

All of the Armors grinned, and Max winked. "Of course we won't! Good night, Father." All of them, except for Light, left the site, picking up Nova and the present-day X along the way, entering their own sleep cycles.

"Don't you need to sleep too, Light?" X asked his oldest, yet most childish Armor. Light shook his head.

"No... I didn't really do much except keep guard. And I don't think you should be by yourself..." Light said to him. He sat down. "You don't mind, Dad?"

X shook his head. "No, I don't at all." He gave Light a hug. "Thank you." The two were silent for several moments. Light was curled up beside X, his head resting on X's shoulder. "Light?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Are you ever lonely in here?"

"Kinda. Giga's the only one that puts up with me most of the time. All the others are so serious..." He sighed. "I wish there were some others like me."

"Do not worry about it. Once you meet Hermes and Icarus..." X chuckled. "Oh, you three knew how to liven up the day. I felt quite sorry for Nova."

"Eh? Hermes and Icarus?" Light blinked.

"A twin set of armors you became really good friends with. You will meet them in a few years," X replied.

"Really?!" the Armor program looked excited.

"Really."

"Yay! Watch out, Nova!"

"Light!"

* * *

If anyone is wondering where the Armors are from, they were originally from a fanfic I'm writing called "The X Factor" (Don't bother looking for it, it's not up on the site yet...). In all honesty, they just wrote themselves into the fic.


	3. Homecoming

Thanks to everyone that's reviewed and favved this so far. You guys rock. Enjoy this last chapter!

* * *

Instinctively, X moved to cover his eyes as he woke up to see the sunlight shining down on him. _What happened last night...? Oh yes, the Armors and I talked before they entered their sleep cycles, and Light and I had a chat... Well, I'd better get to Hunter HQ, now._

He would miss them all. Hopefully, they had arrived in Cyberspace in his era, and he would see them again, but he didn't count on it. X lifted himself off the roof and made his way over to Hunter HQ. He knew he had to be careful, not to let anybody see his body until he had left it.

Luckily, it was still quite early, and not many people were around. Hunter HQ was fairly quiet, so X was able to find a wall outside the building where he sat down, and, releasing the present-day X from the mental block he had put on him, quickly fled his past-self's body, transformed himself into a ball of light, and floated out of sight.

Not a moment too soon. For right when X found a hiding spot, the past X woke up. "Huh? Where am- Hunter HQ? How'd I get here? The last thing I remember is that blue light..."

Smiling, Cyber-Elf X flew away back to Dr. Light's laboratory, where the first thing he did was drink an E-Tank. "I had forgotten how delicious these tasted." He turned to Zero. "Time to get you repaired, Zero..."

* * *

X was glad that he'd found the E-Tanks. Keeping himself corporeal really drained him, but he was able to repair Zero in a good three weeks thanks to the constant energy supplied by the E-Tanks. He'd kept up with the local news in an old-style television that he'd hotwired in order to refresh his memory as to everything that was going on.

"Zero? Can you hear me?" X said. His friend should be awake...

"Ugh..." Zero groaned. He opened his eyes. "Where am..." His eyes landed on X. "X?! And in the poncho, too! Are we in Cyberspace?"

X twitched at 'poncho'. Some things never changed. "Hello, Zero. Nice to see you healthy again," he said a little shortly, annoyed. "And no. We are not in Cyberspace. We are in the real world. Long story short, I came from the future and saved your life after Sigma destroyed you. The X you know is at Hunter HQ, alive but worried about you."

"Oh, and take this." X tossed Zero the spare Z-Saber that he'd managed to fashion. "This era's X has yours."

"Wait, slow down," Zero stared, catching the Z-Saber. "You're from the future?!"

X sighed, closing his eyes. "Yes. I am from the future."

"Prove it."

"Alright..." X thought for a few seconds. "A few years ago, after the... incident with Repliforce, you privately asked me to help you find several versions of that old song from the 21st century, 'What Hurts the Most' by Jeffrey Steele and Steve Robson." X sighed. "I was seriously worried about your sanity then..."

Zero gaped at him. "I... You... There's no way you would've known that unless... it is you, X! So if you're from the future, do you know what's going to happen?" Zero asked him.

X raised an eyebrow. Zero was taking the news rather well. "Yes, but I'm not at liberty to tell you. Maybe I could, but... never mind. I won't. I'm sorry, Zero." X turned the news on, and scowled as Isoc's speech about the Nightmare Investigators came on the screen. He had not liked Isoc from the start, but it was only later that he had discovered exactly who the man was. However, something had already destroyed his soul before X had made his discovery. X was not normally one out for revenge, but he had been disappointed that he never got his chance after what that man did.

"Hey X?" Zero said, looking at the future version of his best friend. "Why are you wearing the pon- robes?" he hastily amended as X shot him a look. "I thought you only wore those in your Cyberspace form?"

"I can only exist in this form. Why, I will not tell you," the Cyber-Elf replied. He took a sip from the E-Tank that he was currently holding. "Do not worry about it."

"A... alright..."

"Perhaps you should meet up with your X? He should be at these coordinates," X said, handing him a slip of paper. Zero looked at the coordinates. "Just make sure not to mention me."

"Yeah, but what'll I tell him? I just came back from the dead -- you rebuilt me!"

X rolled his eyes. "Make up something, such as... I do not know... you hid yourself while you repaired yourself."

Zero raised an eyebrow and stared at X incredulously. "Will he seriously buy that?"

"Zero, I am quite naive and will be so happy to see you alive that it will not occur to me to question your miraculous and illogical return. Do not worry about a thing."

The red Hunter chuckled. "Who knows you better than yourself?" he grinned. "I'm off, X. And thanks."

"You are welcome, Zero," X said, smiling as the red Repliroid teleported. Once Zero was gone, X sighed and completely drained the E-Tank. "Two mysteries solved, and both times I had something to do with them. Now, the third mystery. Perhaps I need to pay Isoc a little visit..."

* * *

Isoc grumbled to himself. "I can't believe that X was able to defeat High Max... and that Zero is helping him." He scowled for a few minutes, and then chortled. "No matter. When they come, I'll trap them right here!" He fiddles with a machine. "They won't be able to stop it. Zero, I will awaken your true self. And X, you will die, as a Lightbot truly deserves. No one can stop me!"

"I do not believe that."

Isoc whirled, staring at the hovering figure in the air. "What... X?! How did you get here! You're supposed to be fighting Gate!"

X smirked. "Actually, this era's X and Zero are fighting Gate at the moment. Amazing what a distortion in time can do."

"A distortion in time?" Isoc repeated, staring at X. "Are you from the future?!"

The Cyber-Elf said nothing.

"Y-You are!" Isoc's eyes, while shocked, also held a bit of curiosity. What scientist would not be curious when discovering that time travel from the future to the past was possible? But then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You may escape me in this era, but coming back in time was a terrible idea, X. You just gave me a another chance to succeed."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to succeed, Isoc... or should I say, Dr. Wily," the Cyber-Elf said.

"H-how did...?! You... you die now!" Isoc grabbed a strange looking weapon and fired a bolt of energy at the Cyber-Elf. X merely stood still, and it went right through him. "Wh-what...?"

"No," X said softly. "You are the one that is going to die." Transforming himself into his ball of light form, X hurtled through the air right into Isoc's body before the man could stop him. Inside Cyberspace, X found and latched onto Isoc/Dr. Wily's program. "There you are."

"You..." Isoc growled, struggling to break free from X's grip. "How did you get in here?!"

"Just like you, I am a program. It was a simple matter for me to come inside," X said, voice cold. "No more. You will leave my family and friends alone now."

The person that was once known as Dr. Wily screamed as he felt his program torn apart. "Get out! I can't be destroyed by a Lightbot! Get out! Get..." Before Isoc could say anything else, X destroyed him completly, making sure to delete all trace of the programs inside the body so that it was no longer anything but an empty shell.

"Never again, Dr. Wily. You shall never threaten the world again."

Leaving the body, X shivered. There had been so much malice and evil inside the Cyberspace of Isoc's mind that it had unnerved him. Turning to the machine that Isoc had been fiddling with, X entered its inner workings and disabled it. "Now that the trap can't activate, Zero and my past self can fight Sigma unhindered."

The sound of a door opening caused X to stifle a curse and dash behind some rubble. He watched as both Zero and the present-day X walked in. They made cries of alarm at Isoc's body.

The other X was kneeling by Isoc's body. "What happened...? There's no reaction! What is this?!"

Zero, too, was shocked. Just as he was about to approach the body, the hidden Cyber-Elf took a deep breath. "G... go, Zero! X! You two... are the strongest robots..." Both Repliroids looked up and blinked, looking around. Zero's eyes rested on the rubble Cyber-Elf X was hiding behind for a moment longer than usual, before turning to the present-day X and shrugging.

"Well, the voice is right," said the past X. "We need to go get Sigma!"

Zero nodded, once again glancing at where the future X was hiding. "You're right. Let's go, X!"

"Weird that the voice sounded a bit like me, though..." mused X.

Zero ran a hand through his hair. "...You're imagining things, buddy."

"Yeah, I guess I am..."

The past X frowned a bit at Isoc's body, and both Repliroids dashed out of the room, and it wasn't until they were out of sight that the Cyber-Elf let out a sigh of relief. "The third mystery has been solved. Time to return." He shook his head, repeating what he had said to Zero and his past self in his mind. "I cannot believe I actually said that to them."

It didn't take long for the Cyber-Elf to find his way back to the Eurasia crash site (which no longer gave off viral readings). Searching around a bit, he managed to find a distortion in Cyberspace which would, according to his sensors, lead him back to his own time period.

_Of course, I'll be trapped in Cyberspace once I go back, but... It's been a good life._

* * *

_Alright,_ now _where am I?_

"Dad!" Before the Cyber-Elf could turn around, Light flew over to X and hugged him tightly.

"Light? You're in Cyberspace?"

"We are, Father," Giga said, flying across the vast green space towards them. "We all are."

"But how?"

"Since we are connected to you, and you aren't dead, neither are we," Gold said. "We're not quite sure when we ended up here, actually... Neither is everyone else."

"Everyone else?"

Giga and Gold gestured to the numerous Armor programs and other people that X had known in his life that were dead, including many of the Hunters, and...

"Zero? But... I thought..."

Zero nodded. "I died, X. For good this time. Weil launched Ragnarok to destroy the people, and the only way I could stop it was by sacrificing myself, and I had no way to come back this time. By the way... you weren't in Cyberspace when I arrived, and according to the Armors, some time last year you went on a little time traveling adventure," he said, sounding slightly amused (which X knew to mean that, in Zero's present mindset, he was laughing really hard inside).

"Y-yes..." X said, sounding a bit sheepish. "Wait, last year? It was only three weeks!"

"You stayed there for three weeks, but the distortion you fell through after the three weeks sent you back to about a year after you left," Giga explained.

"By the way, nice job, ensuring our existence," Zero grinned. "You completely bought that excuse."

X blushed a bit. "Well... Like I said, I was naive." Then he turned serious. "Zero, am I the only one that is confused by the time stream?"

"No, X," Zero said. "We all are. My advice? Just stop worrying about it and be glad that it worked out the way it did."

_I believe... that's a good idea._

_

* * *

_It's over! Isoc being Dr. Wily was something that was never confirmed by Capcom, but it did sorta make sense -- plus, "dying" in X6 would explain why he never appeared in the later games. And I felt so bad for killing off the Armors that I added in the scene at the end to show they weren't completely gone.

Thanks for reading! :)


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